6 key phrases to know before buying travel insurance

How to protect your well-planned trips

Travel insurance is designed to offer protection against sudden and unforeseen situations and events-- like hurricanes.

Travel insurance is designed to offer protection against sudden and unforeseen situations and events-- like hurricanes.

Photo: Pixabay

Photo: Pixabay

Image
1of/8

Caption

Close

Image 1 of 8

Travel insurance is designed to offer protection against sudden and unforeseen situations and events-- like hurricanes.

Travel insurance is designed to offer protection against sudden and unforeseen situations and events-- like hurricanes.

Photo: Pixabay

6 key phrases to know before buying travel insurance

1 / 8

Back to Gallery

This post is sponsored by Allianz Travel

.

Travel insurance is a tough subject to write about. That's because no one really wants to read about it until they really need it.

So as record numbers Americans hit the road and skies this year and wonder whether or not they really need travel insurance, here's some help.

Along with Allianz, I've put together a list of six important travel insurance terms that you should be familiar with before shopping around for the right policy:

"Named storm" or "foreseeable event." At this time of year, the beginning of hurricane season, it's especially important to know what these phrases mean. Travel insurance is designed to offer protection against sudden and unforeseen situations and events. When a hurricane (or any storm) becomes a named storm, it also becomes a "foreseeable event" with known potential to affect travel plans. If you buy travel insurance after a storm is named, your plan won't provide coverage for storm-related claims. This means that it's always smart to purchase travel insurance right after you book your trip (especially to the Caribbean, Mexico or Florida), so you know you're covered. The same scenario applies to other natural disasters, too. For example, the volcanic activity at Kilauea on Hawaii's Big Island became a "known event" on May 3. While you can still buy insurance for a vacation to Kona, the plans will not provide any coverage for volcano-related claims.

"Cancel for any reason" policies. At Allianz, there are 26 covered reasons for having to cancel or interrupt a trip—such as terrorist events, job loss, illness or provider bankruptcy, etc. The reasons vary based on the type of policy you buy. But there's one type of policy that will reimburse you for most or all of your prepaid trip expenses if you cancel for ANY reason, and that's a "cancel for any reason" policy. These policies are more expensive than regular ones and you may have to call to purchase one. Keep in mind, most policies require you to insure 100% of your pre-paid expenses and may only reimburse you up to 80% of the trip cost.

"Repatriation" vs. "evacuation" coverage. These terms refer to emergency medical coverage that travelers buy before big overseas or adventure trips like African safaris or round-the-world cruises. An evacuation plan will generally cover the cost of extracting you from a remote location and getting to the nearest suitable hospital for care. A more expensive repatriation plan goes further by getting you out of harm's way and then transporting you back to your home country for medical care.

"Assistance" vs. "coverage." Travel insurance comes in three primary flavors. One, it can help you deal with travel inconveniences, like lost bags and delayed flights (that's travel assistance). Two, it can protect your travel investment, so you don't lose all your money if you have to cancel a trip for a covered reason (that's coverage). And three, it can help you get care in the event of a covered medical emergency (that's medical coverage).

Photo: Pixabay

Do you need evacuation or repatriation insurance?

Do you need evacuation or repatriation insurance?

Emergency Medical "coverage" vs. "transportation." If you become sick or injured on a trip, you'll be faced with two significant costs: 1) emergency transportation to a hospital (that's emergency medical transportation) and 2) medical care or treatment at the hospital (that's emergency medical coverage). Most travelers need to be sure that they have both. For example, travelers who are covered by Medicare in the U.S. are not covered for treatment in other countries, so will need both healthcare coverage and emergency medical assistance.

"Primary" vs. "secondary" car rental coverage. When renting a car and paying for it with a credit card, it's important to know if the card provides primary or secondary coverage—and what the limits of that coverage are. Primary coverage means that the policy will cover you whether or not you are covered by a personal or company auto policy. Secondary coverage kicks in only if you are not covered elsewhere. If you do not own a car, it's a good idea to use a card with primary coverage, or to purchase a policy like Allianz Rental Car Damage Protector for just $9 per day.

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Allianz Global Assistance. We will periodically publish posts like this one from commercial partners about topics relevant to frequent travel.